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    that tMt&Hems # ofcld liave had the information respecting ob 6 another , and the state of tlie cause in different places , which they now pretty generally possess , or that the exertions which have been made to assist poor

    congregating would have taken place : Fellowship Funds might have been fof med ; but probably ^ the number of them would have been very small , and in many parts of the kingdom they might not even have been heart ! of . It is the publicity which lias been

    given to the proceedings in one congregation which lias led other congregations to adopt similar plans : and thus churches , as well as individuals , have provoked one another to love and to 2 * ood works . The

    same remarks might be made as to the social and brotherly meetings which have annually taken place in some congregations , and the expressions and tokens of esteem and

    affection which have passed between ministers and their congregations . By making all sucli matters generally known , the Repository has contributed to the advancement of what is

    truly useful . Believing that all things are arranged and directed by the Almighty , who accomplishes his designs , which are all wise and good , by the agency of creatures and through the operation of second causes , it is highly interesting to observe , so far as our

    limited views of things ^ will enable us to discover , how second causes are combined and circumstances brought together , to produce particular events and give birth to institutions and plans which are of importance to mankind , and , in particular , which stand connected with the revival and

    spread of pure and undefiled Christianity . Having learned to view the hand of God , though not operating in a supernatural way , in every thing which takes place , I have been frequently led to meditate on the operations of his providence , by which a revival of the Unitarian cause has

    been effected , and the further and more complete reformation of religion is going forward . Not to enter into particulars , which the compass of this letter will not allow of my doing , ] shall barVly remark , thut the Monthly -Repository had become essentially necessary in order to those

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    ? 20 Mr . fFrigkte Stirifeyof this -SMi * < tf ' TheKMtoihttfRBptifctW % i

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    thing's whieK Were sdoa t *» foiled to prepare the way for their being $$ { on foot and to become aft iifrpori&nt instrument ki the revival of Unitarian is m which was to take place , and which absolutely required such a

    work . The precursor of the Repository , the Universalists * Miscellany , had been conducted for several years , with loss , by my late excellent friend , Mr . Vidler ; and though neither ha nor the work was , in the early stages

    of it , Unitarian , both became ultimately such , and from the first it was conducted on liberal principles . This work proving unsuccessful , it was given up ; but it had prepared the way in various quarters for such a work as the Repository , which was required to he on a different and more extended plan . The wants of the Unitarian public , and of the friends of free and liberal inquiry , called

    for such a publication . Such an institution as the Unitarian Fund was also become necessary ; but had not the Repository commenced , there would have been no periodical work in which the plan of that institution could have been submitted to the public , -or through the medium of which the friends of the cause could have been excited to support it , or in which its proceedings and operations could have been , from time to

    time , brought before the public . The Unitarian jb ' und continued , its operations were widely extended , and highly important effects resulted , until its last annual meeting , in Whitsun-week , 1825 , when it merged in the British and Foreign Unitarian Association ; and throughout its progress , the depository was its handmaid and patroness .

    Until the birth of its little sister , the Christian Reformer , the Repository was the only periodical work in the kingdom in which the free discussion of religious subjects could be admitted , or in which writers coula be heard on more than one side ot a theological question ; in the other religious magazines persons and their opinions were assailed , soinetimeb &

    grossly mis represented , but the ' tors would not insert what they wished to say in reply ; they a" ' their doctrine were censured and condemned , and all hearing was refused

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1826, page 720, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2555/page/20/